April 22, 2013

Q&A: McDermott's Bobby Burchfield & Paul Thompson

It's been almost two years since Paul Thompson and Bobby
Burchfield have shared the title of co-managing partner of McDermott Will &
Emery's Washington office. In that time the firm has added partners to its
ranks and made a high-profile move to Capitol Hill.

Thompson, who focuses his practice on white-collar criminal
defense, congressional investigations and appellate work, recently celebrated
his six-year anniversary with the firm. Burchfield, who has served as
co-managing partner since he joined the firm in 2004, practices in corporate
litigation. He is also a member of the firm's management committee.

Legal Times sat down with Burchfield and Thompson in the
firm's office to discuss the firm's business, goals for the D.C. office and
Washington politics.

Legal Times: Why have two office managing partners as
opposed to one?

Thompson: One of the things we try to pride ourselves on
here is that our leadership also works as a fulltime lawyer. To have a partner
who helps manage the office I think is a great asset. This is also our second
largest office. We have about 205 attorneys and couple hundred more staff.
Administratively it is a tough job, so it is nice to have two people to do that
work.

Burchfield: I would also say that of our practices, of all
of our offices, Paul and I have as active practices of law as any of the other
office heads. Some of the other office heads, I think, find it to be a fulltime job and it can be a fulltime job. I enjoy practicing law and I like
the craft of being a lawyer. I went to law school to be a practicing lawyer and
that is something I still like after 35 years.

What are the firm's goals for the Washington office?

Thompson: We definitely have as a goal to be a top 10
Washington, D.C. office, thought of as an office that people go to for
Washington-specific problems. Part of the move was an effort to enhance not
only our brand in this area but to emphasize our practice areas where we see a
focus for growth. We have the top health practice in the country. We have the
top tax practice in the country. We are trying to build our government
strategies practice with Capitol Hill down the road. We have a unique alcohol
practice where we do regulatory work for those in the alcohol industry. We have
a unique food and beverage practice. We have practices that are so
distinctively Washington and we have a grade-A brand in all of those.

Burchfield: We want to be a top 10 firm in Washington not
just in terms of size and revenue; we want to be a top 10 firm in all the
measures that matter. We want to be looked to as one of the top firms providing
pro bono services and community services. We want to be looked to as one of the
top firms in terms of the quality and difficulty in the work that clients
expect and get from us. We want to be a top law firm in terms of quality of
life, in terms of mentoring and career-building for lawyers and staff. We are
trying to focus the office's objectives on the broad spectrum of what it means
to be a great law firm. That is what we're about and trying to achieve here. I
do think it's interesting that location matters. One of my colleagues referred
to it as the power of place. What we are trying to do here in this office is
build the right environment for our practices to grow and thrive. Those are the
sorts of things we are most focused on as opposed to building individual
practices.

What effect has Congress had on the business of law?

Thompson: It's a very common question and I always say that
when Congress does anything or doesn't do something, it generally generates
legal work in some way or another. When Congress wasn't doing anything, let's
take taxes for instance, there were a whole host of questions that clients
would ask about. What does this mean? When Congress does do something there are
a whole host of questions about what is the effect on me. I think there will be
some practice areas affected by the sequester. For instance, those folks who do
government contract work. There are going to be government contractors who will
no doubt be affected by that. There will be legal work that comes out of that
to advise and assist those folks to understand the ramifications of the
sequester. We find that as Congress has acted and as there was uncertainty
about healthcare legislation, that our healthcare practice was busier than ever
trying to interpret the law, advise on what the Supreme Court could do and
after the Supreme Court decided, advising on the opinion. Congress and the
administrative agencies, as well, are such a fundamental part of the regulatory
and legal scheme that businesses have to confront today. It will continue,
whether they are acting or not acting, to generate, in some way, the need for
legal guidance.

Burchfield: Almost every lawyer that I know who is
practicing has ended up in Washington because they have a public policy bend.
It makes it a more interesting place to practice law. Whether you're doing
something that directly relates to what Congress does today or not, people talk
about in the hallways, they know about it on the Hill. They are interested in
the issues, I think to a greater degree than lawyers in New York or Chicago or
other cities. As Paul said, it has the inevitable effect of creating business
for lawyers. We have tried to position ourselves as a firm and certainly as an
office to take advantage of that through our health practice, our government
relations practice, our tax practice. We are positioned here at 500 North
Capital Street in the McDermott Building as a crossroads of discussion, a
crossroads of meetings and a crossroads of fundraising events.

What practices do you expect will be busy in future?

Burchfield: I still think, being an inveterate optimist,
that we may be moving to a once in a generation tax reform, which heaven knows
what shape it will take. About once every generation, there is a major rewrite
of the tax laws. I think many people, maybe most people, think it's time to do
that. There is the Simpson-Bowles Commission on the Hill. The president has
talked about the need to get rid of deductions and maybe flatten rates. There
should be a point of compromise, maybe not this session of Congress, but
sometime in the near future. I think our tax people are preparing for that. In
terms of hot litigation issues, we see the government going after a number of
the industries that we represent, particularly healthcare, in an effort to
address what they refer to as fraud and abuse. Many of our clients might think
is simply an effort to add money to federal [coffers] through litigation. The
administration seems to be heating up in its antitrust review and enforcement.
The [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau], many of our clients feel, is going
to be a major force coming out of the city in the next couple of years.

Thompson: I would add one to that where we have seen a lot
of activity, particularly coming out of this office recently, and that is IP
litigation. We have these beautiful new conference rooms on this floor. If you
had stumbled through here the last couple of months, you would have seen boxes
in these rooms as we have teams of trial lawyers getting ready to go to the
[International Trade Commission]. We continue to be extraordinarily busy in IP
litigation. And I think we will continue to see a lot of activity in that
space.

Burchfield: One other area: administrative litigation. As
the president has found himself a little bit restricted in Congress, I think we
are seeing the administrative state gearing up to do a lot of regulatory activity
of things that can't make it through Congress. We're seeing administrative
litigation. In fact, on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, the Business
Roundtable and National Federation of Independent Businesses, we filed an
amicus brief two weeks ago supporting Supreme Court review of an important
decision coming out of the D.C. Circuit.

What keeps you busy outside the practice of law?

Burchfield: Practicing law is something that I still very
much love to do. It is a jealous profession, but I have over the years become involved in a number of philanthropic activities. I'm the vice chairman of
the board of trustees at Wake Forest this year. I am on the dean's board of
advisor at my old law school, George Washington [University Law School]. This
year I am the chair of Lawyers Have Heart 10k on June 8. I'm also on the board of a Georgetown Pediatric Center. My
wife and I are very active in that, both as board members and as
fundraisers. I also serve as chairman of Crossroads GPS. I have a wife and 15-year-old-daughter,
with whom, and two of her 15-year-old friends; I went to a Maroon 5 concert
last week. My ears are still ringing.

Thompson:
I am married and have four children – 13, 11, almost 9 and 6. I think someone
once said, who you are is what you do when you have nothing else to do. I am a
dad. Beyond that I do serve on the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil
Rights.

This is part of a series of Q&A sessions Legal Times is conducting with D.C.-based law firm managing partners. Photo by The National Law Journal's Diego M. Radzinschi.